Painted Glass
by Aunbre
Summary: Something is off with this picture. Something is wrong with Ranger, Morelli is acting stranger than normal and some guy named Herbert is somehow advoiding capture. Great. Just great. What is a girl to do?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Martinis swirled and rouge lips pouted slightly, "Can you help me with something?"

"Anything for," his disgusting eyes ran up and down her figure, "you."

This 'you' was Stephanie Plum bounty hunter extraordinaire dressed in a slinky purple dress, ripe for clubbing and matching pumps. A false giggle fell from her and her eyes darted to the shady man in the corner booth across the glowing dance floor.

He smirked.

_Great, no help there. _She felt like sighing but that would blow the act. This was an under cover super secret- but not so secret- mission. Also know as a FTA. She had a gun in her purse and Ranger posted as backup. She was determined to catch this slime ball almost by herself.

"Can you tell me anything about Herbert Nobel?" she said sweetly. Nothing better to butter a man up with than a voice dripping in honey.

The bartender quickly put his hands up in surrender. "I don't know anything about what's-his-face, I swear."

This was going nowhere fast and Vinnie was breathing down her back. It was another one of those, 'It should have been easy FTAs gone bad'. "Alright, thank you," _Yeah, for nothing. _She slid off the metal stool and grabbing her purse in one supple movement. Her head gave a quick nod, signaling Ranger to follow her purple lead just as a pair of dyed blondes were giving him the once over.

"Anything?"

"Nothing," she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. This guy was slipperier than expected. Oh this was only a convenient store robber, first time offense and no casualties. Nothing special in anyway or form.

"He could have skipped town," Ranger suggested as he gave a smile to the blondes who were still after his sweet buns.

"Will you stop it?" her brow furrowed sounding annoyed.

"No,"

"They'll follow us,"

"It shouldn't bother you at all," he smirked.

"I know," It was the sound of defeat.

Author's Note- Disclaimer: any JE characters are not mine. Also, I have no clue where this is going or anything like that and this is my first fanfic so this should be an interesting experience to say the least especially since I'm working on finishing Three to Get Deadly. Lastly, shout out to Cokkii!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ranger's 'It shouldn't bother you' comment was based on the fact that things were getting _serious_ with Morelli. Which was a tough thing to do considering Morelli was, well…Morelli and Batman was still tempting.

"Later," Ranger said with a wave.

He was replied with a simple flick of the wrist as she slipped into her car with a sigh. Fingers tousled her hair, styled with globs of gel for the occasion and she sped off. This was the fifth day on the job with nothing new. Herbert was a religious man who lived in one of the many nice but not fantastic homes by himself. He was a mousy, quiet man who didn't seem to do anything at all and somehow survive. No job was listed in the file and family was limited to just his sister who lived in the area. Rebeccah Nobel who was younger and nice enough, but not all that helpful.

Big Blue pulled into the silent driveway. Keys clanked as she entered her apartment. Rex looked out of the soup can and pulled back inside. Apparently, his night wasn't all that interesting either. Almost routinely, she checked her place for any threatening notes or crazed madmen.

_Thank goodness,_ she grabbed a cola from the fridge and settled down to listen to the blinking red answering machine.

Morelli: I can't drop by tonight, paper work. G'night love.

_No pizza tonight then…_

Telemarketer: Hello, Ms. Plum we'd like to offer- Erased.

_Not even worth the time._

She dejectedly flopped on the couch, curling up with a squishy pillow and a blanket. The mattress didn't seem that interesting when the couch had a TV for a friend. This was a plain ol' boring, useless night, even the TV displayed it with _I Love Lucy _reruns.

KNOCK!

_Hmm…?_

KNOCK, KNOCK. Stephanie grumbled and swung her feet over the couch rim.

_Who the…?_ There were more noises of complaint as she shuffled to the door, mostly to stop the annoying and sleep depriving knocking. With weak fingers she undid the locks and forgot to check the peephole. The door swung open.

"Ah, good. Miss Plum, I need some help."

"Everyone needs some nowadays," with eyelids still securely shut, she let whoever it was in, putting faith in the good side of humanity for that spilt second.


End file.
